Rogue One: A Star Wars Story wins Best Film at Empire Awards

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story took home the most coveted prizes at Britain’s Empire Awards on Sunday night (19Mar17).

The Star Wars prequel looked like it would be the big winner after earning the most nominations, with nine, and while it didn’t earn the most prizes at Empire film magazine’s annual fan-voted prizegiving ceremony, it scored the most coveted, including Best Film.

Felicity Jones also won the Best Actress prize, over the likes of Amy Adams (Arrival), Natalie Portman (Jackie), Ruth Negga (Loving) and Emma Stone (La La Land), and Gareth Edwards was voted Best Director.

Harry Potter spin-off Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them was the big winner at the event, but scored most of its four wins in technical categories with the exception of Best Actor, which went to Eddie Redmayne for his portrayal of Newt Scamander.

A number of honorary awards were given out at the event, held for the first time at London’sRoundhouse venue, with Tom Hiddleston receiving the Empire Hero award, director Luc Besson being handed the Empire Inspiration award; and Sir Patrick Stewart taking home the Legend award.

Ken Loach’s drama I, Daniel Blake won Best British Film and its star Dave Johns was named Best Male Newcomer, while Anya Taylor-Joy was presented with the female newcomer prize for her performance in The Witch, which also won Best Horror.

Other winners included Deadpool for Best Screenplay, Jason Bourne for Best Thriller, A Monster Calls for Best Sci-Fi/Fantasy, and The Greasy Strangler for Best Comedy.

Awards season favorite La La Land won the Best Soundtrack prize, while DisneyPixar sequel Finding Dory received Best Animated Film, Doctor Strange beat the competition for Best Visual Effects and Hiddleston’s miniseries The Night Manager won the Best TV Series accolade.